Why I Love: ''Lilo and Stitch''

"Lilo and Stitch" is a Disney film featuring an orphaned girl by the name of Lilo.
Living in Hawaii with her older sister, Lilo struggles to cope with growing up without a mother and father, and struggles even more so to fit into the world that surrounds her.
Shunned by her peers, misunderstood by seemingly all and at risk for being seized by CPS, Lilo is a very troubled and somewhat odd character with bizarre mood swings.
Her greatest wish?
For God to simply send her a friend, or even an angel -- "the nicest angel He has."
            Later a deranged alien experiment labeled 626 flees a prison cell and makes his way to earth.
Desperate to escape capture by his creator and the Grand Counsel, the creature "disguises" himself as an earth dog and deceives a naive Lilo into adopting him, thus sheltering himself from being caught abruptly.
His new "owner" names him "Stitch."
            Much to Lilo's surprise, she finds Stitch is far more aggressive and troubled even than herself, and must battle to try and teach him to be good.
And by so doing, Lilo herself learns the values of trust, friendship and loyalty and remains strong through thick and thin.
            Finally, toward the end of the film after Lilo and Stitch defend themselves against Jumba and Pleakley (the ones hunting him), it is revealed that Stitch is an alien.
After some governmental dispute and a talk with the Grand Counsel Woman, Stitch is "exiled" to live out his life on earth with his new family; a changed alien for the better.
Jumba and Pleakley stay as well, and become part of the family.



            I remember this movie first coming out and how AMPED i was.
And when i finally got to see it, i fell in love right away.
This movie (and all its sequels) moved me from laughter to tears, and i even came to appreciate the difficulty of the settings.
But the thing about this movie that wow's me most now that i'm an adult, is the remarkable characters.

            Lilo, like most Disney stars, is without parents.
But unlike most, she has a loving sibling...and is not rich.
Rather, Lilo and her older sister Nani struggle day to day with finances, holding a job and trying to keep their heads above water.
And, unlike other Disney orphans, Lilo shows obvious and very real-feeling tribulation.
She is without friends, alienated by her peers and shut out everywhere she goes.
At times she even exhibits abusive behavior, slamming the door on her sister's head and in a sequel movie, hitting her repeatedly with a pillow.
She's happy and normal one minute, then fiery and aggressive the next.
Due to Lilo's struggles and responses to her stimuli and situation, she comes off as a strongly relatable and fascinating character.
            Growing up Aspergian and not knowing so, i knew i was much different than others.
It was hard, and others isolated me because i was different.
I played with bugs, cried when they were killed, laughed at things others didn't, and liked to play games differently.
Seeing Lilo and Stitch and watching Lilo go through what she did, and seeing her being socially awkward, it really gave me a sense of understanding of myself.
Granted, the fictional character's situation was MUCH more dire than mine, but it was still realistic and showed me that happy endings are possible.
So while Stitch might be my favorite character, Lilo is my favorite to analyze.
It's the realism of her situation and her ability to be related to that, in my opinion, makes this one of the greatest Disney 2D films of all time (right up there with "Atlantis: The Lost Empire").

Something else i appreciated waaas...
ALIENS!!!
AH!
Now come on, you guys know that i LOVE aliens, haha!
Dragons too, of course ; )
But yes.
While magic is my central root in life, seeing Disney branch away from their typical genre to introduce aliens and technology instead was very refreshing and bold.
They did it very well, and the film was and remains to this day, a sensation that is loved by all.

Now to be more individual, i found the characters all to be very impressive.
Well thought out, unique, unexpected, and very, very fun.
I can't really find a character i don't like in particular (speaking from the original film) -- even Gantu was cool and, when you think about it, was the antagonist without being a big villain.
Now i didn't like Murtle, but that was because of her personality.
Development wise, she influenced Lilo's responses and further explained her social awkwardness.
This made Murtle (i think i'm spelling that right...) an important character.



            All in all, Lilo and Stitch was probably one of the most impressive, daring and emotional Disney movies to ever hit the big screen.
To this day, it is the only Disney movie that makes my cry every single time.
It's a big part of my childhood memories, influenced my taste in music and sparked an endless love for tropical settings and a desire to visit Hawaii.
And, more to the point, it's full of relatable and lovable characters few could forget.
My hopes are that this new generation of younger people will watch and appreciate it the way my generation has, and continues to do now~.



This came completely out of nowhere, but i felt i HAD to analyze and post it!
Enjoy guys

Thank you!